Talking-machine.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS P. VALIQUET, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS,TO THE UNIVERSAL TALKING MACHINE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OFNEW YORK.

TALKING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 701,648, dated June 3,1902.

. Application filed June 8, 1899. Serial No.7l9,'769- (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern:

Be itknown that I, LOUIS P. VALIQUET, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and a resident of New York city, county of New York, State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful ImprovementsinTalking-Machines, of which specification.

My invention relates to talking-machines generally; and it consists moreespecially of a reproducing mechanism hereinafter claimed,

the following is a the same being designed for use in connectionThroughout the drawings like referenceflgures refer to like parts.

A motor of any convenient form, preferably a spring-motor, is inclosedin a casing 1 (the motor not being shown) and is adapted to be wound upby crank 2. This motor rotates the shaft 3, which is preferably inclinedto the plane of the horizon and carries a dishshaped table or otherstructure 4, on which the dish-shaped plate 5 may be fitted, the tableor frame 4 fitting into the concave side of the dish-shaped plate '5.Said plate 5 has a fiat central portion 6 and a curved portion 7 Saidcurved surface is in the shape of the curved surface of the frustum of acone, the

flat central portiontl of; theplate being in a plane at right angles tothe axis of said cone, which coincides with the axis of the shaft '3.

On any suitable projection 8 from the casing 1 is mounted a reproducer9, having the ordinary form of horn 10 and the reproducing-needle 11,adapted to engage the soundgrooves on the curved surface 7. Thisreproducer is hinged to the projection 8 in any suitable manner,preferably by the universal of a fiat record.

joint 12. The record-plate has a central opening 13, large enough to fitloosely over the shaft 3.

' The mode of operation of my invention is as follows: Therecord-grooves are stamped or cast or otherwise formed upon the curvedsurface 7 ofthe dish-shaped plate in the shape of a combined spiral andhelical line having thesha'ft 3 as its axis. The record-plate is 'thenplaced upon the convex table 4 and immediately centers itself upon thesame by reason of the conical shape of each. Preferably, of course, thereproducer 9 should move ina horizontal-line, so that the powernecessary to feed it across the record shall be as small as possible.Consequently the recordrotating apparatus is constructed so that theuppermost element of the conical surface 7 is parallel to the plane ofthe 'horizon--that is to say, the angle of the cone from which thefrustum is cut or the angle which any element of its surface makes withits axis should equal the angle which the axis of the shaft 3 makes tothe plane of the horizon. As shown, ,I .have represented therecord-plate in the shape of a frustum cut from a sixty-degree cone, andaccordinglythe inclination of the shaft 3 to the plane of the horizon orthe base of the machine is sixty degrees also. When the record isrotated in the usual way, the

,needle llis placed in the sound-groove at the beginning of the recordand is fed along by said record, although of course positive feedingapparatus could'be employed, if desired. Accordinglythel'reproducingfneedle 11 travels in aline substantially parallel to anelement of the curved surface of the frustum of the cone to which therecord-plate is shaped.

Some of the main advantages ofimyfinvention are as follows: The degreeof frictional contact between the recordplate'and the supporting-tableis much greater than in the case Consequently no thumbscrew or othermeans for holding the recordplate against the table is necessary and theopening 13 might be enlarged until the fiat portion 6 of the platedisappeared, as shown in Fig. 3.

It is eviden t, of course, that various changes could be made in thedetails of construction of the apparatus illustrated Without departingfrom the spirit and scope of my invention so long as the relativearrangement of parts or the principle of operation disclosed ispreserved. Other forms of reproducer might be substituted and differentarrangements of the driving-shaft and supporting-table might beemployed, the angle of inclination might be varied, &c., but all suchmodified constructions I should still consider within the broadprinciple of my invention.

Having therefore described my invention, what I claim as new, and desireto protect by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the record-rotating mechanism, a plate shaped likethe frustum of a cone, with a web of material extending across thesmaller end forming a fiat central portion, and having a sound-recordformed upon the curved surface thereof, and the reproducer adapted tomove along a line par allel to an element of said curved surface.

2. The combination of a record-rotating mechanism having a rotatingshaft inclined to the plane of the horizon, a plate shaped like thefrustum of a cone having a sound-record formed in a helical line uponthe exterior curved surface thereof, the angle of the cone from whichthe frustum is out being equal to the angle of inclination of therotating shaft to the horizontal plane, said plate being carried androtated by said shaft, and the reproducer adapted to move in ahorizontal line substantially parallel to an element of the curvedsurface of said frustum.

3. A comically-shaped turn-table for talking-machines adapted toconically-shaped records, having that portion of the table over whichthe stylus travels on a substantially horizontal plane, and a rotatingspindle disposed at an angle to the line of the recording-surface, andmeans for securing the conically-shaped record upon the turn-table,substantially as described.

Signed by me at New York city this 6th day of June, 1899.

LOUIS P. VAL IQUET.

\Vitnesses:

LILIAN FOSTER, W. H. PUMPHREY.

